NETSCOUT Highlights Dawn of the TerrorBit Era

Latest Report from NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence Reveals New Findings
on IoT Vulnerabilities, Nation State Actors, and Increase in DDoS
Frequency and Attack Size

WESTFORD, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%24NTCT&src=ctag” target=”_blank”gt;$NTCTlt;/agt; lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASERT?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#ASERTlt;/agt;–NETSCOUT
SYSTEMS, INC., (NASDAQ: NTCT), a leading provider of service
assurance, security, and business analytics, today released its latest Threat
Landscape Report, offering globally scoped internet threat
intelligence together with analysis from its security research arm.
Examining findings from the second half of 2018, the report covers the
latest trends and activities including nation-state advanced persistent
threat (APT) groups, IoT vulnerabilities, crimeware operations, and
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack campaigns.

“Our global findings reveal that the threat landscape in the second half
of 2018 represents the equivalent of attacks on steroids,” said Hardik
Modi, NETSCOUT’s senior director of Threat Intelligence. “With DDoS
attack size and frequency, volume of nation state activity and speed of
IoT threats all on the rise, the modern world can no longer ignore the
digital threats we regularly face from malicious actors capable of
capitalizing on the interdependencies that wind through our pervasively
connected world.”

KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

By drawing on the internet-scale visibility of its Active
Level Threat Analysis System (ATLAS) in conjunction with analysis
from its ATLAS Security Engineering and Response Team (ASERT), NETSCOUT
Threat Intelligence provides a unique view into the threat landscape,
demonstrated by a steady stream of discoveries during the second half of
2018.

During the course of the last six months, NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence
saw attackers bulk up existing tactics, rapidly evolve new performance
enhancements, and apply smart business techniques to vastly accelerate
attack growth rate. Key findings from the report include:

IoT’s Countdown to Attack

Constant targets of DDoS malware, IoT devices come under attack within
five minutes of being plugged in and targeted by specific exploits
within 24 hours.

IoT security is minimal to nonexistent on many devices, making this an
increasingly dangerous and vulnerable sector, particularly as items
ranging from medical devices to cars are IoT-equipped.

The ‘TerrorBit Attack’ and Beyond

Overall, the number of DDoS attacks in 2018 was up 26 percent compared
to the year previously, and attacks in the 100-400 Gbps range
exploded, showing continued interest by bad actors in this attack
vector and maturity of tooling in the mid-range of attacks.

The global maximum DDoS attack size grew by 19 percent in the second
half of 2018 versus the same period in the year previously, as threat
actors launched strategic campaigns that compromised and used a vast
array of devices related solely by internet connectivity. And “carpet
bombing,” a new variant of the more common reflection or flooding DDoS
attack, emerged, requiring different detection techniques.

Nation-State Innovation

DDoS attacks against the international affairs sector, which includes
the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the State
Department, increased by nearly 200 percent between 2H 2017 and 2H
2018.

The volume of nation state APT group activity has increased in the
space of the last year, as have the number of targets. Subsequently,
NETSCOUT is now monitoring the activities of at least 35 groups across
several countries, which include Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea.

These groups are employing new techniques, combining custom-made tools
with commodity crimeware as in the case of STOLEN
PENCIL to extend their reach and impact.

Commercialization of Crimeware

The cybercriminal underground operates much like legitimate businesses
using the conventional business practice of the affiliate model to
rapidly generate profits. Increases in attack size reflect the
continued monetization of the threat landscape.

Campaigns like DanaBot
increased distribution efficiency and cut labor costs by using an
affiliate model to rapidly establish its presence across the globe,
with 12 separate affiliates targeting financial institutions in many
countries.

However, collaborative crime fighting is also on the rise, illustrated
by recent efforts with the ASERT team and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) during an investigation into MedusaHTTP DDoS, a
botnet from a hacker known as stevenkings, that ultimately led to
charges being filed.

Through telemetry on a massive scale, ATLAS delivers visibility into the
backbone networks at the core of the internet. NETSCOUT gathers data
shared by organizations around the world, including 90 percent of Tier 1
service providers, representing approximately one third of internet
traffic. NETSCOUT correlates this and other data sets to provide
automated data sharing and intelligence, facilitating usage by all
internet users, business and private, and giving them a broader
perspective to better understand and react to the threats they face.

Additional Resources

Visit the NETSCOUT ASERT blog
for insight on various aspects of the report and to download the full report.